Category: ATIC launch

Wikramanayake Clinical Diabetes Research Award

Congratulations to Type1Screen’s lead doctor, Associate Professor John Wentworth, for being awarded the Ranji and Amara Wikramanayake Clinical Diabetes Research Award at the 2024 Australian Diabetes Society Congress (ADC).

Professor Tony Russell, President of the Australian Diabetes Society, presents A. Prof. John Wentworth with the inaugural Wikramanayake award for clinical diabetes research.

John was awarded this predominantly due to his tireless work in the type 1 diabetes research space, but especially the improvement of early detection, diagnosis and intervention.

One of the elements of this critical work, has been the development of an at home screening test which can detect islet autoantibodies (early markers of type 1 diabetes development) on a dried blood spot card. So much more convenient and accessible to families, especially those who don’t like needles in the arm for a blood test or living in more rural and remote areas.

With colleagues, Dr Wentworth has also pioneered the facilitation of immunotherapy trials in Australia. His aim is to have a trial available for people at all ages and stages of type 1 diabetes, to preserve beta cell production of insulin for those with a diagnosis of clinical type 1 diabetes, or to slow or stop the progression for those in the early stages.

John Wentworth giving his award presentation at the 2024 ADC in Perth

Children diagnosed with presymptomatic type 1 diabetes through public health screening have milder diabetes at clinical manifestation

Children identified with type 1 diabetes through a public health screening program tend to have a less severe form of the disease when symptoms emerge.

The Fr1da study group, based in Germany, aimed to see if diagnosing type 1 diabetes in children before they showed symptoms, and providing education and monitoring, could make the condition less severe when symptoms eventuated. Researchers compared two groups: one previously diagnosed early with screening (the Fr1da group), with one diagnosed without screening (often in DKA or ketoacidosis meaning life threateningly high blood sugar levels due to a lack of insulin production).

The screened group had better outcomes at the onset of clinical type 1 diabetes. This exhibited as lower blood sugar levels, lower doses of insulin, and fewer cases of severe diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA). An important observation was the higher fasting C-peptide concentrations and reduced need for insulin therapy in the Fr1da cases, indicating a higher beta cell reserve. 

Their findings suggests that early diagnosis, with proactive education and monitoring, can make a significant difference in how children experience the onset of type 1 diabetes.

graphical abstract

The paper is available at: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00125-023-05953-0

Media coverage of blood spot testing

Media coverage of Type1Screen’s blood spot testing

The at home test kit for type 1 diabetes through Type1Screen has received significant attention this Diabetes Month! This was boosted substantially with thanks to the McCaughley Family.

Lila McCaughley was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at the age of 9 in DKA (ketoacidosis – a life threatening state where blood sugar levels are too high because the pancreas can no longer produce insulin). In response, her mother Ange Liston-McCaughley founded the Type1Foundation to raise awareness around the signs and symptoms of type 1 diabetes to prevent as many other children as possible experiencing the same horrible diagnosis.

Ange has said that Type1Screen aligns with the values of the Type1Foundation because we too want to identify children and young people at the earliest stages of type 1 diabetes. Screening has been shown to prevent DKA, improve longer term diabetes management, and offers the opportunity for any available clinical trials to delay or prevent type 1 diabetes.

Lila McCaughley and her little brothers

So when Ange decided to get herself, and the rest of her family screened for type 1 diabetes using the new at home blood spot test with Type1Screen, the type 1 diabetes community took notice! And so too did the media. Thanks to the McCaughley family for their ongoing support and their amazing media skills!

For all the media coverage you can click on these links:

Community Engagement Panel – ATIC

Community Engagement Panel Members sought for ATIC

The Australasian Type 1 Diabetes Immunotherapy Collaborative (ATIC) brings together researchers, clinicians and advocates to identify and create immunotherapy clinical trial opportunities for people at every age and every stage of type 1 diabetes (T1D).

Supported by JDRF Australia, ATIC is led by St Vincent’s Institute of Medical Research (SVI) in Melbourne and involves multiple major type 1 diabetes centres across Australia and New Zealand.

Core to ATIC’s success is involvement of the broader type 1 diabetes community – people living with the condition, their families and advocates. People with first-hand experience of T1D are sought to join the ATIC Community Engagement Panel.

If you’re passionate about improving the lives of people with type 1 diabetes through immunotherapy research and ultimately treatments to delay and prevent T1D, don’t miss your chance to be a part of this exciting opportunity.

Applications are being accepted until COB Friday 2 December.

More information is available on the ATIC website:

Community Engagement Panel – calling for expressions of interest

ATIC

ATIC

The Australasian Type 1 Diabetes Immunotherapy Collaborative (ATIC) officially launched at the Australasian Diabetes Congress in Brisbane on the 10th August 2022.

The ATIC Team from L-R: Dr Michelle So, A.Prof. John Wentworth, Dr Michaela Waibel, Prof. Tom Kay, Prof Helen Thomas, Ms. Candice Hall.

What is ATIC?

The Australasian Type 1 Diabetes Immunotherapy Collaborative (ATIC) is a clinical trials network of adult and paediatric endocrinologists, immunologists, clinical triallists and members of the type 1 diabetes (T1D) community.

Immunotherapies have been shown to blunt the immune attack on the pancreas that occurs in people with type 1 diabetes. ATIC’s work will discover the safest and most effective immunotherapy treatments.

The ATIC team are working across six domains with the bold vision to fast-track immunotherapy treatment options for people with type 1 diabetes.

  1. Clinical Trials: Implement immunotherapy trials for type 1 diabetes
  2. Community Engagement: Ensure ATIC’s work meets the needs of people living with type 1 diabetes
  3. Pre-clinical & Translation: Help transform scientific discoveries into effective treatments
  4. Data management: Facilitate data driven research
  5. Education and training around the fundamentals of immunotherapy, and the latest research on its use in type 1 diabetes
  6. Advocacy, regulation and government: Drive regulatory approval and government funding of immunotherapy treatments for type 1 diabetes.

ATIC facilitates immunotherapy clinical trials across a network of leading clinical trial centres. ATIC can advise on mechanisms for obtaining trial funding, assist with initial ethics approvals, oversee trial conduct, and support participant recruitment efforts to ensure clinical trials are delivered on time and within budget.

For more information, take a look at the new website at: https://atic.svi.edu.au/